Weekly Promotion: Mother's Day, cheap dates, and the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens.

Peace.  This past weekend, the homie Crystal invited me to a discussion forum on “black relationships”.  The moderator was a classmate of hers from Howard and so I figured, why not?  Let’s flex some of that knowledge I be bakin’ at Biscuits and Gravy.  Now I won’t get into too much detail.  When I get the link to the video, I’ll be sure to post.  But the topic of chilling/hooking up/dating/courting was broached, and one of the fellas added his $300 and two cents on how dating can be expensive when you have to take women on posh dates every month.  Literally, the figure he used was $300.  Crystal astutely remarked that dates didn’t need to be so costly and that sometimes the effort is more important than extravagance, even if the end result is a cheap date.

“But c’mon.  Do women actually like cheap dates?  Do they even work?”

My reply was simple.

“Yes.  Cheap dates definitely work.”

How do I know?  Because I’ve taken women on cheap dates all the time.  Obviously, I’m not referring to fast food and a DVD.  But if you live in an area like Washington DC, then you have a wealth of free or otherwise inexpensive options from which to choose.  If you feel so inclined, you can even refer to my Weekly Promotions for assistance.  Speaking of which, I did that exact thing this past weekend when I treated mom dukes to a Mother’s Day date.  And guess what?  She had a blast.  Granted, it was my mother and she was happy to spend the day with her son.  But at the same time, it was my mother.  And I can tell when she’s genuinely enjoying herself.

So what’d you do?

I’m glad you asked.  After lunch at the de facto cool spot on U St (or V St if you want to get technical, and yes, we’re thinking of the same place), I took her to the O St Mansion and to the Drummers Circle.  Not only was she impressed, but she was more surprised at learning that anything like what I showed her existed in this city.  No need to detail either locale because I’ve already done so.  But what I’ve yet to tell you about is the Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, which is where we actually started the day.

Located in Anacostia Park, this natural area is similar to a swamp, but not like those nasty swamps you see in the movies.  There’s wildlife frolicking about, and if you asked me I’d say they’re pretty much living it up.  But more than that, the gardens house a variety of flora, some of which are native to the area and others that have been collected from abroad.  Unfortunately, most of the flowers were not yet in full bloom, but that’s supposed to happen in about two to three weeks from what I understand.  What we did see were a slew of lilies floating about on the water and a bunch of other plants that quite frankly, I can’t really describe and that I’ve never before seen in an area like this.

I think that’s what we enjoyed the most.  When you think of the greater metropolitan area, you think of the buildings and the monuments and the museums.  You think of Congress, the White House, the Mall.  The memorials and the historic theaters.  You even think about all the movers and shakers doing their thing in a buzzing environment.  But what you don’t really consider is the natural park areas.  Sure, you got the zoo, the aquarium, and there are certainly a number of things to do in Rock Creek Park.  But I was truly amazed that something like this could flourish right in DC’s backyard.  They even allow you to canoe!

Pertinent Details:

Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens
1550 Anacostia Ave. NE
Open 7am to 4pm every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years
Free
http://www.nps.gov/keaq/index.htm

The website has more information than I could possibly give you, but I definitely plan to return sooner rather than later.  If you’re looking for a cheap but cool thing to, the Aquatic Gardens I highly recommend.  As always, be sure to check out the Event calendar for current, weekly and monthly events.

-BenGe